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About "The Oracle of Amsterdam"

I'm just this guy, you know? Any opinions I accidentally express on this site are not those of my employer.
Old friends (or foes, for the nostalgia) from Palo Alto, Swarthmore, Rome, Philadelphia, Paris, Berkeley or Amsterdam feel free to drop me a line...

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Museumnacht is the one night each year that most Amsterdam museums are open until late, 2 a.m. or later, and it's always a lot of fun. Unfortunately, certain people drank too much last night and are regretting it now.

Our evening began in the Verzetsmuseum (=Dutch WWII Resistance Museum) and ended up at an extremely weird (and fun) Halloween Party on the Oudezijds Voorburgwal. For those of you not familiar with Amsterdam, that means, in the Red Light District, the seediest underbelly of the city.

My head was hurting before I crawled into bed at around 6:30 a.m.; been a long time since I was out carrying on until all hours like that.

Now I have parenting duties, on a weak stomach, ugh.

Here's a quick clip of "De Fanfare van de Eerste Liefdesnacht" ('The Fanfare of Love's First Night'), a great band that performed at the Verzetsmuseum. They played authentic numbers that were popular at the time of the Dutch Liberation Day, May 5, 1945.I'm afraid my hand wasn't very steady...

6 comments:

You were at an 'extremely weird' Halloween Party in 'the seediest underbelly of the city'. Came home at 6.30 AM and you're not telling us a thing about it?? Okay, let me guess, fetish/S&M? You naughty boy.....;-))

I guess anything I say will only dig me in deeper, but it wasn't an S/M thing. I'm not even sure whether it was someone's house or a bar; there was a bouncer...but it was in a 'kelder' and anybody could just walk behind the bar; drinks were free. The main things were: everybody was in costume (Elvises, aligators, clockwork orange; zombies; one leprachaun); the DJ had melted some of his electrical cords so it smelled like burnt rubber in there, and one guy was freaking out (like, writhing his arms over his head) in the corner after taking what must have been some very bad drugs...English was the main language, with lots of dodgy South Africans, Australians and Scots; a few Dutch; and some people were also definitely speaking Spanish. For what it's worth...

You've lived in Amsterdam for 10 years and an 'extreemly weird party' is where everybody is wearing an holloween costume and one guy is sitting in a corner having a bad trip? *chuckle* I guess you spend most of those ten years at home :-)).

If this is the case do not go to this site: http://www.clinicweekend.com/index.php?nav=restaurant

Norma: Yeah, it's a little bit weak, I've never been to any kind of S/M thing (or even a sex show). For reference, I worked at a youth hostel here once upon a time; I have an adventurous spirit; and I'm not afraid of a little freakiness. Lord knows I've been in some dank dungeons in America, and many's the time I've thought about swinging an invite to a private club in Amsterdam or accompanying one of my friends "in the know" to something more hectic, but it's hard to find the time as a working dad. We've also thrown some pretty wild parties ourselves, but recently the Solstice Feest in Ruigoord is about the wildest it gets for me. Oh, and I'm definitely going to go to the *final* party thrown by the owners of Procare, if they'll have me...

Well, If you ever want to try something like that before you leave Amsterdam I recommend you go to 'Wasteland' (http://www.wasteland.nl/home) first. That's like a fetish party for the curious masses. I've been there three times and I had a lot of fun dressing up for the party and watching what other people wear and how they behave in a setting like that. Rent a uniform if you don't see yourself walking around in a leather or rubber outfit. An American naval dress uniform is very kinky outfit :-). I know from personal experience (but I am an Amsterdam native) that after a while at the party your comfort boundaries greatly expand. You'll become immune for all the ordinary sex stuff going on and only notice the really weird stuff and people. I've never been to 'The Clinic'. From what I've heard that's on a smaller scale and therefore more 'in your face' than Wasteland. Probably only amusing for the really curious or true fetish lovers. Anyway, you can always tell yourself you have to go there to do research for a novel you're planning to write :-).